The Review of the action of Group C

What a group of death it turned out to be. In retrospect, Group E was much tougher, but Ivory Coast and Serbia and Montenegro (Serbia) would probably not agree. These two teams god beat and beat pretty well by Argentina and Netherlands. As with group B's match-up between Sweden and England; Argentina and Netherlands matched up quite squrely in the end. They, just like England/Sweden, tied their match against each other.

Herewith the results of the matches in this group:

Argentina 2 - 1 Ivory Coast
Netherlands 1 - 0 Serbia
Argentina 6 - 0 Serbia
Netherlands 2 - 1 Ivory Coast
Argentina 0 - 0 Netherlands
Serbia 2 - 3 Ivory Coast

It's a nail biting finish with both Netherlands and Argentina ending up with exactly the same points for their two wins and one draw. Goals difference now makes Argentina the winner of the Group and Netherlands has to be content with second place.

Argentina will play Mexico on Saturday June 24 and Netherlands will play Portugal on sunday June 25

Our World Cup Promotion: Progress report

At our on-line casino, we are in the final stages of rolling out our Soccer World Cup Promotion; simply called World Cup Mania! I'm getting really excited. The promotion will be the extention of my blogs: There we will give our users the fixtures, the scores, the groups' standings, a competition and a free soccer game to play.

If everything goes according to plan, we will be rolling it out on Monday June 5th. I will post the final direct url on one of my blogs (Group A-H - Just follow the links on the sidebar)

The competition

It's simple: But the prizes are big, frequent and the odds to win are not bad. In the fixtures you can select a game and predict the score. If you correctly predict the score, you can win $50. If more than one person has predicted the right score, the winner will be randomly drawn from that pool.

Follow the action on the site, since there will be more prizes announced later. To give you a clue: The main prize is $3,000 and 100 free spins on a slots machine... and the takings is all going to the winner!

The Game

Our casino are going to launch an exciting new Soccer World Cup Slots game on June, 9th 2006. And to make the coccer fan even happier, we also included a bonus feature: A soccer flash game on the site.

I'm getting excited. I have mentioned this all to some of the VIPs at the casino and they are ready to participate. I actually know why: they cannot wait to make more money out of us!

Tough Group? High ranking teams take each other on

If you know yet, I work for a casino, so my colleagues and I have natural betting tendencies. Being such a tightly contested group, must of the money is on the results of Group C. We talk about it often and are spit down the middle to who would be advancing as the winner of the Group. There is Jasper, our patriotic Dutchman who won’t admit he may be biased and Monica, our Chilean compatriot who supports Argentina for the win. I wanna say that Argentina can make it, but have not seen their matches since last World Cup. Then you look at the rankings: Netherlands ranked 3rd and Argentina fourth. I’ve started reading up on the two teams and came across this jewel of a piece by BERNARDO FALLAS from the Houston Chronicle:

At a glance: The group — along with Group E (Czech Republic, Ghana, Italy and the United States) — is considered a "group of death." A semifinalist is bound to come out of this group.

Two-time champion Argentina and perennial European power the Netherlands look to be the two sides advancing to the Round of 16. But both know Ivory Coast is keen on making a statement in its first World Cup. The Elephants are arguably the most dangerous of the five African nations in the tournament and seek to become the surprise team of 2006.

For its part, Argentina will try to put an embarrassing showing in 2002 — it failed to make it past the group stage — behind it. To do so, manager José Pékerman, who has led Argentina to three FIFA World Youth Championship crowns, has bet on a young squad with many of his former pupils. The cast also includes veterans of the likes of Juan Román Riquelme (Villarreal, Spain) and Hernán Crespo (Chelsea, England) and has the necessary tools to make the Albicelestes a semifinalist, provided Pékerman is able to instill consistency.

The Netherlands, which didn't make the 2002 tournament, is also betting on youth as Van Basten selected only two players (midfielder Phillip Cocu and goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar) with World Cup experience. The Orange Machine will attempt a repeat of 1998, when they finished fourth in France.

Serbia and Montenegro proved its worth in qualifying, going unbeaten to win its group. Ilija Petkovic has gone with experience; 22 of his 23 call-ups are capped. The news: Pékerman had no surprises Monday when he unveiled his Argentina World Cup squad, but he left out veterans Walter Samuel and Javier Zanetti, who play for Inter Milan in Italy.

The stars:

Argentina looks to shine with 18-year-old Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona, Spain) and Gabriel Heinze (Man United, England), while the Netherlands will bet on Man United's Ruud van Nistelrooy. Didier Drogba (Chelsea, England) will be a hit on the pitch, and Serbia and Montenegro's Mateja Kezman (Atlético Madrid, Spain) will carry the burden
at striker.

Match to watch:

The technical skill and grace of South American soccer meets the precision and endurance of Europe when Argentina and the Netherlands are paired on June 21 at Frankfurt.

Current FIFA Rankings

FIFA Rankings as on November 2005

1. Brazil
2. Czech Republic
3. Netherlands
4. Argentina
5. France
6. Spain
7. Mexico
8. USA
9. England
10. Portugal
11. Turkey
12. Italy
13. Denmark
14. Sweden
15. Japan
16. Germany
17. Greece
18. Uruguay
19. Iran
20. Croatia
21. Costa Rica
22. Cameroon
23. Ireland Republic
24. Poland
25. Colombia
26. Nigeria
27. Romania
28. Tunisia
29. South Korea
30. Senegal
31. Paraguay
32. Saudi Arabia
33. Egypt 34. Russia
35. Morocco
36. Switzerland
37. Ecuador
38. Norway
39. Bulgaria
40. Ukraine
41. Cote d'Ivoire
42. Honduras
43. Jamaica
44. Israel
45. Slovakia
46. Finland
47. Serbia and Montenegro
48. South Africa
49. Australia
50. Ghana

Group C: Argentina

Argentina - Soccer World Cup Group C

Group C: Netherlands (Holland)

Netherlands - Soccer World Cup Group C

Group C: Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast - Soccer World Cup Group C

Group C: Serbia

Serbia - Soccer World Cup Group C

Soccer World Cup Group C's Blue and Orange

Soccer World Cup Group C will see an wave of orange and blue. Netherlands and Argetina's my pick to advance in this year's FIFA Soccer World Cup Group C Pool.